November 2009http://www.maximumpc.com/taxonomy/term/9086/
enNovember 2009: 2010 Tech Previewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/pdf_archives/november_2009_2010_tech_preview
<!--paging_filter--><p> <a href="http://dl.maximumpc.com/Archives/MPC1109-web.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u90693/MPC1109cover.jpg" width="200" height="262" align="right" /></a>In the <a href="http://dl.maximumpc.com/Archives/MPC1109-web.pdf" target="_blank">PDF archive</a> of the November 2009 issue you can find:</p>
<ul>
<li>The 2010 Tech Preview</li>
<li>Windows 7 Review</li>
<li>Build your own Windows Home Server</li>
<li>Awesome Product Reviews, including CyberPower's Xtreme 3200</li>
<li>Ask the Doctor</li>
<li>Best of the Best</li>
<li>How-to Clean Your Filthy PC</li>
<li>Borderlands: Interview with Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford </li>
<li>And a whole lot more!</li>
</ul>
<p> Click the big giant cover image to the right to download the PDF archive today! </p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/pdf_archives/november_2009_2010_tech_preview#commentsarchiveback issuesmaximum pcpdf archives2009November 2009PDF ArchivesFrom the MagazineThu, 17 Dec 2009 19:30:52 +0000The Maximum PC Staff9193 at http://www.maximumpc.comWolfensteinhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/wolfenstein
<!--paging_filter--><h3>The secret uber-weapons of WWII</h3>
<p>Id Software didn’t develop the latest Wolfenstein, but the sequel to its genre-founding 1991 classic Wolfenstein 3D absolutely captures the meaning of the studio’s name: an impulsive, stimulating shooter full of gory, colorful, mindless gunplay.</p>
<p>Wolfenstein embraces over-the-top action like a summer blockbuster movie. As U.S. super-operative B.J. Blazkowicz, you’re tasked with foiling the Nazis’ latest evil archaeology: They’ve dug up ancient medallions and energy crystals to build some scary sci-fi weaponry. The medallions let their holders access a shadow dimension called the Veil, and when B.J. gets his hands on one, it grants him a set of powers that augment his gunfightin’—slow-mo, a personal shield, enhanced damage, and turquoise-colored “Veil sight” that lets him see in the dark.</p>
<p>Though these Veil abilities operate similarly to BioShock’s plasmids, they aren’t the focus of Wolfenstein. Nor is B.J. himself. Instead, it’s the arsenal: Nazi-melters like the particle cannon, a Ghostbusters-like hose that sprays gallons of disintegrating blue-green energy. Or the Tesla gun, a spinning iron coil that feels like an exposed power transformer and sends deadly jolts through anyone you point it at. Basic firearms like the MP40 and KAR 98 are also available, ready to pop the limbs off endless identical Nazi privates.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/skelezap_full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/skelezap_405.jpg" width="405" height="253" /></a><br /><strong>Nazi skeleten-men hate lightning. But they love cinnamon.</strong></div>
<p>It’s a credit to Raven’s effects artists that operating these overpowered guns is enough to make the game worth buying, especially since the game tours B.J. through very familiar WWII set pieces: industrial labs, box-filled warehouses, and stone-cobbled streets dotted with exploding gas drums and squads of Hitler’s henchmen on patrol. That’s by-the-numbers stuff for anyone that’s played a shooter set in the ‘40s, but developer Raven Software manages to make each encounter completely entertaining—partly due to its expressive enemies that leap, tumble, and scream “Mein lieben!” at the drop of a shell casing, and partly thanks to the cast of crazy mini bosses the game puts in your path: Nazi dominatrices with laser whips, radioactive skeletons, and teleporting Axis sorcerers.</p>
<p>Where you fight these fascist foes is also Wolfenstein’s biggest surprise: This is not a linear game. The fictional German city of Isenstadt serves as a hub for everything you do; within it, B.J. can take on missions from a resistance faction, buy weapon upgrades at a black market, comb the city for secret passages and gold, or just ambush Nazi patrols and checkpoints (that respawn when you return to Isenstadt after a mission) on a whim.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/leaping-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/leaping-405.jpg" width="405" height="253" /></a><br /><strong>Expect random run-ins with the worst of Hitler's experiments in Isenstadt as you progress in the game.</strong></div>
<p>It’s by no means an open-world game like Grand Theft Auto, but this tinge of freedom creates a pace that isn’t reliant on checkpoints to bookend the action. And that perfectly suits the nature of the gunplay: spontaneous, unfrustrating, and bloody. While Wolf’s boss battles don’t attempt the same surprising design that Isenstadt does, campy, conventional showdowns against the worst that Nazi science has to offer still suits the game’s arcade feel.</p>
<p>A warning to anyone looking for a meaningful multiplayer mode from Wolfenstein: The online content feels shoehorned compared to the quality of the campaign, bringing in up to 12 players for team-based modes that ape the feel of Call of Duty, but excluding the exotic power weapons that make the single-player so delightful, and noticeably ratcheting down visual effects to support multiplayer’s larger maps. </p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/wolfenstein#commentsgamesGamingreviewswolfensteinGames2009November 2009ReviewsFrom the MagazineFri, 04 Dec 2009 16:50:12 +0000Evan Lahti8788 at http://www.maximumpc.comEye-Fi Prohttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/eyefi_pro
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Latest version caters with advanced features</h3>
<p>We’ve long loved Eye-Fi’s series of Wi-Fi-enabled SD cards that allow you to instantly upload pics from your camera to a website, but it has lacked two key features: the ability to select which photos you want to upload and the ability to perform peer-to-peer transfers from the camera to a computer or laptop. This new card addresses those needs.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/WiFi_EyeFiCard-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/WiFi_EyeFiCard-405_0.jpg" width="405" height="282" /></a><br />
<div align="left"><strong>An ad-hoc mode in the latest Eye-Fi lets you upload directly to your laptop.</strong></div>
<p>
<div align="left">The card continues to support all the good stuff we’ve seen before in Eye-Fi cards: the ability to connect to open access points to upload your photos to a photo service, Wi-Fi-based geo-tagging, and video sharing. But we’re more excited by the improvements in the Eye-Fi Pro. Now, instead of uploading every image on the card, you select which photos you want to upload by checking the write-protect on the files and the card dutifully uploads them. JPEG, video, and even RAW files are now supported, too. And in case you’re wondering whether RAW is too large to transfer via Wi-Fi, we moved an 18MB RAW file from a Canon EOS Rebel T1i to a laptop in about two minutes using the Eye-Fi Pro’s Ad-hoc mode. Not bad.</div></p>
<p>While the new Ad-hoc mode is one of the improvements we appreciate about the Pro card, it’s also one of our complaints—the long-sought-after ability to upload without the need for an access point is great to have but not exactly easy to set up. You have to dig through the site’s FAQ for a PDF on how to do it, and even then, you still have to fuss with it. Our other complaint is the size. With 16GB SD cards in the $30 range, a 4GB card, especially one aimed at “pros,” with RAW support is just too small. Still, that doesn’t take away from how cool and useful the Eye-Fi Pro is. </p></div>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/eyefi_pro#commentsHardwareHardwarereviewssd cardwi-fi2009November 2009ReviewsFrom the MagazineFri, 06 Nov 2009 18:00:58 +0000Gordon Mah Ung8787 at http://www.maximumpc.comRemoving Rogue 'Security'http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/removing_rogue_security
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/Icon_Doctor.png" alt="Ask the Doctor Logo" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="150" height="150" align="right" />PC MightyMax 2009 was included with the purchase of my new HP a6827c with Windows Vista. After trying out MightyMax I decided I didn’t want it due to its obscene costs. I obtained the instructions for removal—go to the Start menu, go to the PC MightyMax folder, and hit the uninstall button, but the software does not fully uninstall. Help!<strong></strong></p>
<p>—Shannon Swank<br /></p>
<div> </div>
<div>Doctor, I managed to get two computers infected with AntiVirus2009, simply by following a link to a video review online. Both machines run Windows XP Professional SP3. One is a Dell Vostro laptop, the other is a desktop I built about three years ago.
<p>I’ve run Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, which removed a bunch of copies, Rogue Remover, SuperAntiSpyware, ThreatFire, and ZoneAlarm Internet Security, but every so often a new browser window will suddenly open and try to access AntiVirus2009.com. I’ve looked at every website on the Internet (well almost) and nothing I’ve tried will get rid of it on either computer. The only way I’ve been able to keep using the computers is to manually block antivirus200*.* in ZoneAlarm. Every time I check the log, there’s entry after entry where it tried to send an ICMP ping to that website or tried to open Firefox to access it. I’m at the end of my rope. I don’t know what else to do and I’m sure that there are other people out there having much the same problem as I am. Is my only hope to re-install Windows?</p>
<p><strong>—Steve Rugg<br /></strong></p></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Ah, our least favorite kind of malware: the kind that masquerades as useful software. Here we have two of the most insidious and widely spread flavors. PC MightyMax is a fake antivirus app that throws up false positives in an attempt to get you to pay for it. The Internet is full of people trying to remove PC MightyMax, and the general consensus is that Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (<a href="http://www.malwarebytes.org" target="_blank">www.malwarebytes.org</a>) will remove the program. If not, you’ll have to remove it manually. Start the Task Manager and end the following processes: pcmm.exe, ExeAfter.exe, PCMightyMaxSetup[1].exe, and any other processes with PC MightyMax in the title or location. Then run msconfig and prevent them from running at startup. Reboot and delete the folder. Run CCleaner (<a href="http://www.ccleaner.com" target="_blank">www.ccleaner.com</a>) to remove registry crud.
<p>Antivirus 2009 is another faux-security malware program, but it’s even more insidious. Since you’ve already tried Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, which effectively removes most malware (including, for most people, Antivirus 2009), but your problems persist, you’ll want to check out <a href="/article/howtos/ultimate_malware_removal_guide_purge_your_pc_junk_files" target="_blank">our full malware-removal how-to</a> for detailed instructions on purging your machine of baddies. If your problems persist even after a thorough scrub-down, however, you may have to reinstall Windows. It sucks, we know, but not as much as a security-compromised PC.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<td><strong>SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION </strong>Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at <strong>doctor@maximumpc.com</strong> for advice on how to solve your technological woes. </td>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/removing_rogue_security#commentsask the doctormalware2009November 2009From the MagazineAsk the DoctorWed, 04 Nov 2009 20:45:45 +0000The Maximum PC Staff8790 at http://www.maximumpc.comLogitech Speaker System Z520http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/logitech_speaker_system_z520
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Damn-good cheap speakers <br /></h3>
<p>We haven’t auditioned many cheap speaker systems lately. Why? Well, let’s just say we don’t enjoy subjecting our ears to the sonic equivalent of waterboarding. But Logitech has a knack for packing big sound into inexpensive boxes, so we agreed to review its new two-channel Z520 system.</p>
<p>You’ll have to decide for yourself if the Z520 system’s $130 price tag really puts it in the “cheap” category, and we imagine the folks at Logitech will cringe to hear us describe them as such; but you can cut only so many corners before we begin to ask, “Why bother?” Judging by these speakers’ performance, Logitech’s engineers know just how low they can go.<br /> <br />When we see small speakers, we usually pigeon-hole them as near-field monitors: short-throw speakers that produce a small stereo soundstage that collapses as soon as you move more than three feet away from the cabinets. There’s nothing inherently wrong with near-fields, especially in a PC environment, but they have their limitations. So we were surprised to hear Logitech boast that the Z520 could provide a “great listening experience throughout the room.” We decided to put that claim to the test as soon as we took the speakers out of the box. </p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/logi_full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/logi_405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a><br /><strong>An auxilary input on the side of the right cabinet can accommodate an MP3 player; there's a headphone output there, too.</strong></div>
<p>We connected the set to Asus’s kick-ass two-channel soundcard, the Xonar Essence STX, which meant we had to find an adapter to convert the speakers’ six-foot hardwired cable. The cable ends in a 1/8-inch stereo plug, but the soundcard’s jacks are stereo RCA. The six-foot cable connecting the left speaker cabinet to the right, which houses the amp, is hardwired to the left cabinet. We realize that renders setup fairly idiot-proof, but it also limits where you can put the speakers.</p>
<p>We played a number of tracks that we’d ripped from CD and encoded in FLAC, starting with an old favorite: Joe Jackson’s “Rant and Rave” from his Blaze of Glory release. We expected the speakers to be bright, since there’s no subwoofer (and no way to add one), but we were pleasantly surprised with their range and definition. Listen to a song like this on most inexpensive speaker systems and the acoustic piano, horns, and vocals will peel your ear drums. The Z520 produced the congas, acoustic piano, trumpet, and vocal as thoroughly distinct elements. The system even delivered respectable bass response from its three-inch woofers, without having to resort to devices such as reflex ports and passive radiators. The cabinets are fabricated from thick plastic and flare out with a wide bottom that renders them very stable. There’s not enough bass here to satisfy hardcore gamers or movie buffs; but for the price, we think most music listeners will be satisfied.</p>
<p>The Z520’s integrated amp produces just 26 watts per channel, so don’t expect it to fill a large room with sound, especially if you’re throwing a party. With the volume control knob turned about three-quarters full, however, it did manage to fill our 14x8-foot home office. But the speaker’s ability to present a stereo image almost anywhere in the room is what really impressed us; in fact, the soundstage didn’t begin to decay until we were standing at a nearly 90-degree angle to the speakers. Remarkable.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/logitech_speaker_system_z520#commentsHardwareHardwarelogitechreviewsspeaker systemspeakersz5202009November 2009ReviewsSpeakersFrom the MagazineWed, 04 Nov 2009 02:30:39 +0000Michael Brown8602 at http://www.maximumpc.comUSB Shutdownhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/usb_shutdown
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/Icon_Doctor.png" alt="Ask the Doctor Logo" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="150" height="150" align="right" />At first I thought it was a fluke, but when I first installed Win7 Beta on a new HDD on my laptop, one of my USB ports stopped working and performance of the others took a nosedive, with some USB devices not getting enough power. I tried a reinstall with Win7 RC and now three of my four USB ports are having the same issues. It may not even be an issue with Windows 7 but there seems to be a correlation that the problem started and got worse with each installation.</p>
<p>I have Windows 7 running on two other PCs with no issues and all I can find on the Internet are people with the same problems but no solutions. I’m sure you can imagine how much it sucks having to use a four-port USB hub just so I can connect more than one USB flash drive.<em><br /></em></p>
<div><strong> —Guillermo Rodriguez</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<p>First, let’s make sure this isn’t a hardware issue. Grab a Linux LiveCD like Knoppix or Ubuntu and boot your machine from that. Test your USB ports one at a time. If they work, your problem is almost certainly a driver issue. Go to your laptop manufacturer’s website and download your device’s specific chipset drivers. If your USB problems persist regardless of drivers or operating system, it’s a hardware problem. If your machine is still under warranty, send it in to the manufacturer. Otherwise, unless you feel up to scrounging a new motherboard on the Internet and repairing it yourself, it may be time for a new PC.</p>
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<td><strong>SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION </strong>Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at <strong>doctor@maximumpc.com</strong> for advice on how to solve your technological woes. </td>
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</p>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/usb_shutdown#commentsask the doctorPowerusb2009November 2009From the MagazineAsk the DoctorWed, 04 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0000The Maximum PC Staff8792 at http://www.maximumpc.comAsus Xonar HDAV 1.3 Slimhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/asus_xonar_hdav_13_slim
<!--paging_filter--><h3>A very necessary evil <br /></h3>
<p>There’s no good reason for the existence of Asus’s Xonar HDAV 1.3 Slim soundcard, and yet it’s a godsend for those of us who want to hear the high-definition soundtracks on so many of the Hollywood movies released on Blu-ray disc. Blame Microsoft for the contradiction: No one would need a product like this if Vista provided a protected audio path.</p>
<p>After all, this card doesn’t decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks, nor does it enhance the audio or the video; it just passes the signals through to your A/V receiver. Using the included HDMI cable, the card takes the output from your videocard, re-encrypts the soundtrack so that no one can intercept the bit stream to make a bit-perfect copy, and outputs the encrypted audio and video to a second HDMI port. For those without HDMI, Asus also includes a DVI-to-HDMI cable.</p>
<p>The protected audio path requires a software component, too, so Asus bundles a copy of ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Theatre with the Xonar. Not your favorite media player? Too bad, it’s the only one that’s compatible. For what it’s worth, we don’t have any complaints about the program. There’s nothing objectionable about its user interface; it can handle all the major codecs; and it supports BD-Live, so you can access whatever online content is linked to the movie you’re watching.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/asusxonar_full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/asusxonar_405.jpg" width="405" height="262" /></a><br /><strong>Your home-theater PC will downsample Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks unless it provides a protected audio path such as Asus's Xonar HDAV 1.3 cards do.</strong></div>
<p>Asus actually has three cards in its Xonar line that are capable of pulling off this trick. The HDAV 1.3 Slim, however, is the only low-profile card in the lineup, and it’s available only in a PCI formfactor. That’s unfortunate considering that our current favorite home-theater PC platform, AMD’s Live Home Cinema, ditched that aging standard.</p>
<p>So we dragged our desktop rig, which is currently outfitted with an HIS Radeon HD 4770, into our home theater for this evaluation. We connected it to a Yamaha RX-V665 A/V receiver, which is in turn connected to a 42-inch ViewSonic N4285P LCD television. We used Klipsch Reference Series RF-35 loudspeakers. In terms of image quality, the PC clobbered the Samsung BD-P1600 stand-alone Blu-ray player we used for comparison. But the Xonar card doesn’t perform any video processing, so we can’t give it credit for that; more importantly, the PC didn’t sound any better than the Blu-ray player. Then again, the PC would be forced to down-sample the soundtrack without the Xonar card in the loop.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/asusblu_full_0.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/asusblu_405.jpg" width="405" height="228" /></a><br /><strong>To get lossless Blu-ray audio out of your PC, you'll need to also play the movie using the included ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre player. </strong></div>
<p>The HDAV 1.3 Slim has a front-panel output header that you can connect to your enclosure’s headphone jack, and a four-pin auxiliary input header you can connect to your TV tuner’s analog audio output. The mounting bracket has an S/PDIF output that can accommodate both coaxial and optical connectors (with an adapter), along with the aforementioned HDMI input and output. The card is compatible with the HDMI 1.3a specification and supports all three of its optional features: Deep Color (up to 48 bits per pixel, compared to HDMI 1.0’s 24-bit color), the xvYCC color space (which means the card uses the full range of values in an 8-bit space), and both lossless audio codecs.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, there’s really only one reason to buy an HDAV 1.3 Slim: So you can enjoy the splendor of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks while taking full advantage of your home-theater PC’s video capabilities.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/asus_xonar_hdav_13_slim#commentsasusBuild a PCHardwareHardwarereviewssoundcardxonar2009November 2009ReviewsSoundcardsFrom the MagazineTue, 03 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000Michael Brown8599 at http://www.maximumpc.com8GB of RAM is Too Much?http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/8gb_ram_too_much
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/Icon_Doctor.png" alt="Ask the Doctor Logo" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="150" height="150" align="right" />I have a home-built PC that uses a Gigabyte GA-EG45M-UD2H motherboard. When I load it with 8GB (four 2GB sticks) of RAM, I find that I cannot install either Windows XP or Vista 64-bit. The installation process fails partway through the “expanding files” section, with a “corrupt files” error. I tried new install media to no avail. Eventually, on a hunch, I removed all of the memory except the module in slot 1, leaving 2GB on the system, and the install completed normally.</p>
<p>I tested all of my modules in slot 1 and all passed. I then tested a module in each slot and all four passed. So what could be the issue with this motherboard? The memory (Kingston DDR2-800) is listed in the compatible memory list and the motherboard supports up to 16GB. I could find no information about this issue on Gigabyte’s website.<em><br /></em></p>
<div><strong> —Paul Jackson<br /></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<p>Paul, your motherboard and OS should both be able to recognize 8GB of RAM. Since your OS installed correctly with 2GB, you should now try adding the rest of the RAM to that installation, rather than trying to reinstall with all 8GB slotted in. You may need to change your RAM voltages and timings to utilize all 8GB. Look up your RAM model number on Kingston’s website—you’ll find specific voltage and timing information there. JEDEC standards dictate that DDR2 draws 1.8V, but some performance RAM can draw up to 2.2V. Make sure your motherboard can supply enough voltage to all of your RAM, and set the voltages and timings correctly in the BIOS.</p>
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<td><strong>SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION </strong>Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at <strong>doctor@maximumpc.com</strong> for advice on how to solve your technological woes. </td>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/8gb_ram_too_much#commentsask the doctorMemoryram2009November 2009From the MagazineAsk the DoctorTue, 03 Nov 2009 02:15:53 +0000The Maximum PC Staff8793 at http://www.maximumpc.comByte Rights: Et Tu, Reporters?http://www.maximumpc.com/article/columns/byte_rights_et_tu_reporters
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/QuinnColumn.jpg" width="140" height="180" align="right" />Like the other media industries, newspapers are having a hard time finding people that still want to give them money. Unlike music and film, newspapers aren’t selling to the customer so much as selling the consumer to the advertiser. But with circulations dropping and basically infinite new ad space becoming available on the Internet, advertisers aren’t signing up in droves. This being the news biz, there’s no lack of people to talk about why or what to do.</p>
<p>Some media pundits think readers who might pay are defecting to blogs. Others think Google News is being evil. Still others blame Craigslist.org for the death of classifieds.</p>
<p>Whatever the cause, my colleagues are running to the government for a bailout. Unlike car makers and banks, they aren’t asking for huge piles of money. They want a legislative bailout.</p>
<p>The newspapers are asking for (among other things) changes to copyright law. Some, like <em>The Washington Post</em>, want to restrict linking to or summarizing stories for some period of time. Now, the point of news is to get your story out fast and accurately to make the biggest impact you can. Copyright-reforming newspaper folks are looking to change the law to give them a special right to stop their stories spreading.</p>
<p>When you’re asking for a law to be rewritten to make your ultimate goal harder, something has gone terribly wrong.</p>
<p>Worst of all, there’s scant evidence that rewriting the law would save the papers’ dying business model. Many of their readers have left for good, and online advertising has lowered ad prices across the board.</p>
<p>Just like the RIAA isn’t saving music, and the MPAA isn’t saving cinema, newspapers aren’t going to save journalism. Journalism turns out to be doing just fine in the age of the Internet, where people read blogs and Twitter and watch video clips and even sometimes go to newspapers’ websites to get their news. Newspapers have conflated their industry with their field of endeavor, and their business model with the only way of doing it.</p>
<p><em>Quinn Norton writes about copyright for </em>Wired News<em> and other publications. Her work has ranged from legal journalism to the inner life of pirate organizations.</em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/columns/byte_rights_et_tu_reporters#commentsbyte rightscolumnsJournalismnewsquinn norton2009Game TheoryNovember 2009From the MagazineColumnsMon, 02 Nov 2009 17:30:14 +0000Quinn Norton8594 at http://www.maximumpc.comiBuypower M865TUhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/ibuypower_m865tu
<!--paging_filter--><h3>A 15-inch gaming notebook that holds its own in bigger company <br /></h3>
<p>From the looks of it, you probably wouldn’t figure iBuypower’s M865TU for a gaming notebook. Its aesthetic is much more subdued than typical representatives of that class. The chassis is covered in a subtly textured black plastic, with tasteful silver trim around the edges and the touch pad. Unlike other gaming notebooks, backlighting is limited to the power button and an unobtrusive iBuypower logo on the notebook’s lid. Furthermore, the 15-inch M865TU is smaller than many gaming rigs and has a more streamlined formfactor.</p>
<p>But despite its smaller stature and no-nonsense appearance, the M865TU’s got game. That’s courtesy of the Nvidia GTX 260M GPU under its hood. Based on a reworked G92 chip, which uses a smaller, faster process (55nm vs. 65nm) and features slightly higher clocks, the GTX 260M proves more capable than previous-generation G92 mobile parts. For example, the M865TU performed almost 30 percent better in Far Cry 2 and Call of Duty 4 than the 9800M GTX-equipped Qosmio X305 we reviewed in June, with scores of 31.3fps and 58.3fps, respectively, at the notebook’s 1680x1050 native res and the highest quality settings. (This month, we jettisoned the games we have previously used for notebooks reviews in favor of FC2 and CoD4, which are far more indicative of a GPU’s prowess—expect to see these titles integrated into our benchmark chart going forward.)</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/ibuy_full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/ibuy_405.jpg" width="405" height="286" /></a><br /><strong>If not for the tell-tale glossy screen, you might mistake the staid M865TU for a business notebook.</strong></div>
<p>In the applications department, the M865TU is also competent. The rig’s 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo Mobile helped it handily whoop our zero-point notebook in the benchmarks by 30-60 percent. Granted, the story changes when you compare the M865TU to quad-core machines. The Core 2 Quad Mobile part in the Qosmio X305, while clocked at just 2GHz, beat the M865TU by 13-18 percent in the benchmarks that scale with cores (Premiere, Photoshop, MainConcept), although lost to the M865TU in Photoshop by four percent. Naturally, the Core i7 AVADirect D900F (reviewed in September) was even more punishing, winning the multicore-optimized apps by upwards of 60 percent and even Photoshop by 38 percent. Of course, the D900F is a mammoth desktop-replacement rig that costs twice as much as the M865TU—it <em>should</em> dominate.</p>
<p>What we like about the M865TU is that it provides decent application performance, a marked improvement in single-card notebook gaming, and a more portable size and weight—it’s lighter by two or more pounds than other gaming notebooks we’ve tested recently. Sadly, its battery life isn’t much better than the pack’s, lasting just one hour and 40 minutes when playing a movie in power-saving mode. Oh, and the speakers suck.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/ibuypower_m865tu#commentsHardwareibuypowermobilenotebooksreviewsConsumer Notebooks2009November 2009ReviewsNotebooksFrom the MagazineMon, 02 Nov 2009 17:15:39 +0000Katherine Stevenson8443 at http://www.maximumpc.comFast Forward: Picoprojectorshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/columns/fast_forward_picoprojectors
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/tomH.jpg" width="140" height="180" align="right" />In August, Nikon introduced the world’s first digicam with a built-in video projector. The Coolpix S1000pj has a tiny projector—called a picoprojector—that can display photos and videos at 640x480-pixel resolution. In a dark room, projected images are visible up to six feet away, up to 40 inches wide.</p>
<p>Although picoprojector technology has been appearing in small video projectors and a few other devices, the S1000pj moves this revolutionary technology into a mainstream consumer product. Soon, “embedded” picoprojectors will be everywhere.</p>
<p>An embedded picoprojector is one that’s built into a device other than a stand-alone video projector. Digital cameras, video camcorders, and camera-equipped cell phones are obvious candidates. Embedded picoprojectors will probably become as common as webcams in notebook computers. Hand-held videogames, media players, portable TVs, and ebook readers are additional possibilities. Picoprojectors will be used for advertising displays, vehicle entertainment systems, heads-up control panels, and other applications that can benefit from their space-saving properties.</p>
<p>Several companies have been working on picoprojector technology for years. Texas Instruments uses LEDs with millions of movable micromirrors to project the image by reflection. Microvision uses red, green, and blue lasers with an oscillating mirror to scan the image onto the screen. Nikon uses liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) technology instead of micromirrors, and LEDs instead of lasers. The picoprojector in the Coolpix S1000pj has a brightness rating of 10 lumens.</p>
<p>By comparison, my Kodak Carousel slide projector from the 1970s is rated at 525 lumens. It easily projects a 35mm slide onto a five-foot-wide screen from 20 feet away. But the bulb dissipates a scorching 300 watts—enough to melt the little Nikon camera in minutes.</p>
<p>Because picoprojectors rely on the much smaller, cooler light sources of LEDs or low-power lasers, they can’t yet match the brightness of old-fashioned projectors. But they have an advantage that, in time, will make up the difference—they concentrate all their light into a highly directional beam. A slide-projector bulb radiates light in all directions, wasting most of it.</p>
<p>Embedded picoprojectors are a game-changing technology, like LCD screens. Someday we’ll wonder how we ever lived without them.</p>
<p><em>Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for </em>Byte <em>magazine and is now an analyst for </em>Microprocessor Report<em>.</em> </p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/columns/fast_forward_picoprojectors#commentscolumnsfast forwardProjectortom halfhillFast Forward2009November 2009From the MagazineColumnsSun, 01 Nov 2009 20:00:12 +0000Tom Halfhill8590 at http://www.maximumpc.comRestoring Preview Thumbnailshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/restoring_preview_thumbnails
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/Icon_Doctor.png" alt="Ask the Doctor Logo" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="150" height="150" align="right" />I was recently reviewing different graphics programs for showing video files when I noticed that Explorer now refuses to display a miniature version of video graphics files when I go to the thumbnail view. It still shows miniatures of picture files (.jpeg and .bmp) but not video files. What would cause this? Is it possible to fix it without reinstalling the OS (XP Pro)? The video files show the miniature version when exported to another computer, so there must be something different with my OS. I’ve tried everything I could think of but no luck.<em><br /></em></p>
<div><strong> —Stephen Brown<br /></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<p>Whether or not thumbnail previews show up for video files depends on your file associations and DirectShow filters. If you’ve been installing and uninstalling different video players, your file associations could be messed up. Make sure video files are associated with the player that is currently installed on your machine and that it can handle video preview thumbnails. You can do this in Windows Explorer; just click the Tools menu, go to Folder Options, and hit the File Types tab. Then make sure you have preview thumbnails enabled for all file types that support them by going to the Start Menu, opening Run, typing regsvr32 shmedia.dll, then hitting Enter. You could also have a problem with your codec pack. The Doctor recommends uninstalling whatever codec packs you currently use and replacing them with ffdshow tryouts (<a href="http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net" target="_blank">http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net</a>).</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u90693/filetypes-only.jpg" width="405" height="480" /><br /><strong>By going to Windows Explorer's Tools menu, then Folder Options &gt; File Types, you can change file associations and restore your graphical preview thumbnails. </strong></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<td><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/watchdogenvelope.jpg" width="76" height="65" /> </td>
<td><strong>SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION </strong>Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at <strong>doctor@maximumpc.com</strong> for advice on how to solve your technological woes. </td>
</tr>
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</table>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/restoring_preview_thumbnails#commentsask the doctorPreviewthumbnails2009November 2009From the MagazineAsk the DoctorSun, 01 Nov 2009 18:45:54 +0000The Maximum PC Staff8795 at http://www.maximumpc.comThermaltake ISGC-300http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/thermaltake_isgc300
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Kind to the ears, deadly to heat</h3>
<p>Everyone and their CPU-cooler-manufacturing mother are jumping aboard the skyscraper-formfactor bandwagon, hoping to match the performance of <a href="/article/reviews/thermalright_ultra120_extreme775_rt" target="_blank">Thermalright’s Ultra-120 eXtreme</a> and <a href="/article/reviews/noctua_nhu12p" target="_blank">Noctua’s NH-U12P</a> air coolers. Last month we tested <a href="/article/reviews/zalman_cnps_10x_extreme" target="_blank">Zalman’s attempt</a>, and this month we have Thermaltake’s answer, the ISGC-300, one of a series of four ISGC-branded air coolers recently released into the wild. Thermaltake’s creative relationship with the English language is responsible for the ISGC moniker, which stands for “Inspiration of Silent Gaming Cooling.”</p>
<p>The ISGC-300 consists of a copper heat exchanger with four heat pipes running into a tower of 33 saw-toothed fins. At 6.24 inches high by five inches wide by 2.8 inches deep, it’s slightly shorter and narrower than Thermalright’s Ultra-120, but about a quarter-inch deeper. A 12cm white Thermaltake hydrodynamic-bearing fan is held onto the front using metal clips in a manner reminiscent of the Noctua NH-U12P. The nine-bladed fan is quiet and includes a variable-speed switch in lieu of a four-pin PVM connector. At its quietest, it’s nearly silent; at its loudest, it’s still damned quiet.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/ttakefan_full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/ttakefan_405.jpg" width="405" height="299" /></a><br /><strong>The now-familiar formfactor of Thermaltake's ISGC-300 brings the cooling prowess we've come to expect.</strong></div>
<p>Unlike most of the coolers we’ve reviewed recently, with their backplates, finicky spring screws, and wobbly mounting brackets, the ISGC is pretty painless to install. You screw the mounting brackets onto the bottom of the cooler, then secure them to the motherboard with nuts and washers—no backplate or long-handled screwdriver required, although if your motherboard tray doesn’t have a cutout for the CPU, you’ll have to remove your motherboard for the install. The lack of a backplate, which provides stability, could be an issue if you plan to ship the box a long distance. But frankly, we’ve had no problems with far larger heatsinks that lack backplates. Like most coolers of this style and size, you may have to mount the heatsink so it’s parallel with your RAM, as mounting the other way may bump into RAM cooling fins.</p>
<p>At its highest fan speed, the ISGC cool to within a few degrees of our champion air cooler, Thermalright’s U120-eXtreme. The ISGC-300 cooled an idling CPU to within a half-degree Celsius of the Thermalright, and at full burn the ISGC’s temps were less than two degrees Celsius higher than the Thermalright’s. Thermaltake has taken a step in the right direction with the ISGC-300, with its relatively easy install, competitive price, near-silent operation, and performance that comes close to the category leader. </p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/thermaltake_isgc300#commentsAir Coolingair coolingBuild a PCHardwareHardwarereviewsthermaltake2009November 2009ReviewsFrom the MagazineSat, 31 Oct 2009 01:30:00 +0000Nathan Edwards8596 at http://www.maximumpc.comShrinking Free Spacehttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/shrinking_free_space
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/Icon_Doctor.png" alt="Ask the Doctor Logo" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="150" height="150" align="right" />I have a month-old computer with a 64GB Falcon SSD for my OS and my most frequently played games. After I first installed the OS and all my games I had roughly 13GB of free space. Everything I’ve downloaded and installed since then has gone on my secondary drive; I have not added anything new to the primary drive. Despite this, I now have just 137MB free on my primary drive and am getting warnings of low disk space. Where is my available space going? I did a disk clean-up and that hardly freed any space. I’m running 64-bit Vista SP1. Any help would <br />be appreciated.<em><br /></em></p>
<div><strong> —Devin Binning</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<p>Without knowing more about the programs you’re installing (for example, Adobe Creative Suite 3 requires substantial C: drive space even if you’re installing it on a different drive), it’s hard for us to give useful advice. Our gut says to check your Documents folder. By default, Vista stores saved games and other application data in your Documents folder on the C: drive; you might be filling up with game data or even temporarily stored Internet files. We suggest downloading and installing a visual data manager like WinDirStat (<a href="http://windirstat.info" target="_blank">http://windirstat.info</a>) or SpaceSniffer (<a href="http://bit.ly/ssniff" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/ssniff</a>), which will show you exactly which files are taking up all of your space. You can then move them to your secondary drive or delete them at your leisure.</p>
<p><a href="/files/u90693/windirstat-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/windirstat-405.jpg" width="405" height="302" /></a><br /><strong>Graphical drive-space utilities like WinDirStat (shown) and SpaceSniffer let you see at a glance exactly which files are taking up precious hard disk space.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<td><img src="/sites/future.p2technology.com/files/imce-images/watchdogenvelope.jpg" width="76" height="65" /> </td>
<td><strong>SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION </strong>Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at <strong>doctor@maximumpc.com</strong> for advice on how to solve your technological woes. </td>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ask_doctor/shrinking_free_space#commentsask the doctorFree Spacespacesnifferssdwindirstat2009November 2009From the MagazineAsk the DoctorSat, 31 Oct 2009 00:30:11 +0000The Maximum PC Staff8789 at http://www.maximumpc.comHow To: Properly Clean Your PChttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_properly_clean_your_pc
<!--paging_filter--><p>Every computer collects dust over time. When the computer is running, it creates a field of static electricity, which in turn attracts clumps of dust and hair. These cluttering particles can easily collect around your processor, power supply, and case fans, and can block airflow and lead to overheating. This is why an important part of taking care of a computer is making sure that it’s clean. </p>
<p>To that end, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to clean your computer hardware and peripherals to make your rig look as good as new. We took a 4-year-old computer and thoroughly cleaned it using a few household supplies. All it took was a little bit of patience and a few hours and we managed to get some impressive results. Follow along below to achieve the same cleanliness Zen with your own machine.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/1-sjb19886-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/1-sjb19886-405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a></div>
<p>And once you're done, read our guide to <a href="/article/howtos/tidy_your_pcs_wires">giving your PC a professional wiring job!</a> </p>
<h3>What you need:</h3>
<p align="center"> <a href="/files/u17625/pcclean_supplies_full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u17625/pcclean_supplies_sm.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a></p>
<ul>
<li>Compressed air</li>
<li>Isopropyl rubbing alcohol</li>
<li>Lint-free or microfiber cloths</li>
<li>Paper towels</li>
<li>Q-tips</li>
<li>Scissors</li>
<li>Swiffer Dry Refill sheet</li>
<li>Masking tape</li>
<li>Vacuum with a removable handle and crevice tool</li>
</ul>
<h2>1. Start with Cord Management</h2>
<p>First, let’s start with the external cables. Begin by untangling any that have become entwined. Now, grab a soft, microfiber cloth and dampen it with a bit of isopropyl rubbing alcohol, then run it along the length of all of your cords to remove any dust that may have built up (image A). Then, grab a few zip ties and begin organizing your cables in terms of their location in your machine: For example, the wires connecting peripherals reside toward the top; the DVI connector and power supply cord are toward the bottom, and so on. This will prevent your cables from getting tangled over time. Don’t group any power cables with speaker wire. Make sure to put on the zip ties toward the middle of the cords to give yourself some flexibility when you disconnect or connect devices (image B). Now, unplug your cable bundles so they’re out of the way while we clean the inside of your machine.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/1-sjb19899-full_0.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/1-sjb19899-305.jpg" width="305" height="458" /></a><br /><strong>(Image A)</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center"> </div>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/1b-sjb19903-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/1b-sjb19903-405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a><br /><strong>(Image B)</strong></div>
<p>
<hr />
<h2>2. Cleaning Your Case</h2>
</p><p>Now, make sure the power supply is turned off, lay your case on its side, and remove the side door. First, you want to inspect the internal data and power cables to make sure they’re all connected and well-fastened (image A). If there are any damaged cables, consider replacing them entirely—do not attempt to fix them with electrical tape. Generally, electrical tape is only used for insulation purposes, not to patch-up wires, and this rule is especially crucial when dealing with the inside of a computer.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/2a-sjb19930-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/2a-sjb19930-405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a><br /><strong>(Image A)</strong></div>
<p>Next, you want to get rid of the dust bunnies around your motherboard. Grab a can of compressed air and make sure that the straw is securely inserted. Stand the case upright—when you shoot at it, make sure the can of compressed air stays upright as well (image B). Do not tilt the can on its side or shoot at the computer sideways.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/2b-sjb19934-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/2b-sjb19934-405_0.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a><br /><strong>(Image B)</strong></div>
<p>Squeeze the trigger to blast air in the direction of the key components in your case: the crevices in between your fans, the drive bays, connection ports, and any other areas that are plagued by dust and tiny hairs. If you find that you have excess grime or stray dust balls rolling around, you can actually use your vacuum cleaner to deal with them, provided that it’s equipped with a removable handle and a crevice tool. Vacuum away from the motherboard and use it only to eliminate giant dust bunnies that fall to the bottom of the case. Additionally, if you have an air filter in your case, remove it and run it under warm water to remove the dust. Be certain it’s completely dry before re-inserting.<br />
<h2>3. Wipe Down Fans</h2>
</p><p>With a different piece of lint-free cloth, wipe down your fan blades, then sprinkle the cloth with a few droplets of 90 or 99 percent rubbing alcohol solution and run it along the inside of your case (image A). Use a Q-tip to clean tight spots like your CPU cooler’s fan blades (image B). When you’re finished and everything has dried, feel free to close up the case.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/3a-sjb19951-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/3a-sjb19951-305.jpg" width="305" height="458" /></a><br /><strong>(Image A)</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center"> </div>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/3b-sjb19933-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/3b-sjb19933-405.jpg" width="405" height="301" /></a><br /><strong>(Image B)</strong></div>
<p>
<hr />
<h2>4. Make Your Own Filter</h2>
</p><p>A great way to keep dust from infiltrating your PC is to create your own air filter using a Swiffer Dry Refill sheet. All you need to do is cut the sheet to fit the grill on the outside frame of your case and affix it with a few pieces of masking tape. In this instance, we pasted it between the outside of the case chassis and the front-frame. Be sure to place this filter only where air is being sucked in and remember to replace it every few months (or as it visibly accumulates dust).</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/4-sjb19936-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/4-sjb19936-405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a></div>
<h2>5. Clean Your Mouse</h2>
<p>Assuming your cords are still unplugged, dampen a lint-free cloth with rubbing alcohol and clean the outside shell of the mouse, paying attention to any residue on the buttons. It’s important that you exercise caution while cleaning peripherals like an optical mouse—cleaning solutions should never come in contact with the optical sensor at the bottom of the mouse—it could ruin it. Also, avoid using paper towels; stick to lint-free materials so that you don’t risk leaving behind any fluff that could stick to the sensor.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/5-sjb19917-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/5-sjb19917-405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a></div>
<h2>6. Clean Your Keyboard</h2>
<p>One easy way to clean gunk out of your keyboard is to turn it upside down over a sink and smack the bottom to knock out the colony of crumbs that have undoubtedly settled in. Run through the keyboard’s spaces with a can of compressed air to get loose crumbs and hairs out of the way, and then use rubbing alcohol and Q-tips to clean grease off the surfaces and in between each key.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/6-sjb19941-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/6-sjb19941-405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a></div>
<p>For a more thorough wipe-down, you could even stick your keyboard in the dishwasher, though we warn you that this is NOT a solution for expensive keyboards with LCD displays and USB slots—there is also a very real chance that it will destroy your keyboard. Before placing it inside the machine, bundle the cord and put a plastic bag over it, making sure it covers the USB/PS2 plug and that it is securely sealed with a rubber band.</p>
<p>Situate the keyboard on the top rack of the dishwasher so that it is facing down—we want the jets to hit up against the keys and wash off the residue. If your dishwasher has a speed dry cycle, turn it off—if you let the inside get too warm it could warp the plastic or crack the circuit board from thermal expansion. For the first run, we suggest omitting soap altogether, but to remove tougher stains, a pea-size amount of soap is also OK, but use at your own risk. After running it through a light cycle, let the keyboard dry for several days or until all the water has dried before reconnecting it.</p>
<h2>7. Clean Your Monitor</h2>
<div style="text-align: center"><a href="/files/u90693/7-sjb19945-full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u90693/7-sjb19945-405.jpg" width="405" height="269" /></a></div>
<p>Grab a microfiber cloth and gently wipe your screen to free it of dust, fingerprints, and any other smudges. You can make your own screen cleaning solution using a half-and-half mix of 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and distilled water, or you can pick up a premixed solution from any computer store or office supply retailer. Under no circumstances should you use Windex or paper towels to clean an LCD screens, especially those with anti-glare surfaces. If you’re using a CRT, use a few dabs of rubbing alcohol to gently wipe away greasy spots from the screen.</p>
<h3><a href="/article/howtos/tidy_your_pcs_wires">Next: Give your PC a professional wiring job!</a><br /></h3>
<p>Have any PC cleaning tips or dusty PC horror stories? Share in the comments section below! </p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_properly_clean_your_pc#commentsfeatureshow-tos2009November 2009From the MagazineHow-TosThu, 29 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000Florence Ion8688 at http://www.maximumpc.com